Apparatus for sorting glass plates and pieces.



J. WATERLOO.

APPARATUS FOR SORTING GLASS PLATES AND PIECES.

APPLlCATlON FILED MAYB. 19m RENEWED 05 0.3. 1911.

Patented July 9, 1918.

Wm Y mkyx wfimxh INVENTOR I in WITNESSES JOHN WATERLOO, OF MONONGAHELA,PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 WINDOW GLASS MACHINE COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH,PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR SORTING GLASS PLATES AND PIECES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented July 9, 1918.

Original application filed May 8, 1916, Serial No. 96,062. Divided andthis application filed May 8, 1916, Serial No. 96.061. Renewed December3, 1917. Serial No. 205,238.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN \VATERLoo, a citizen of the United States,residing at Iilouongahela. \Vashington county, Pennsylvania. haveinvented a new and useful Apparatus for Sorting Glass Plates and Pieces.of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part. of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of one form ofapparatus embodying my invention, and

Fig. 2 is a side View of the same.

My invention is designed to provide apparatus for sorting glass platesor pieces, such as photographic plates; and more particularly toprovidea method and apparatus of this character-by which this work maybe done in a much more rapid and eflicient manner than has heretoforebeen possible.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, in which I have shown one form ofapparatus for carrying out ,my invention, the numeral 2 designates aportion of a glass cutting table, which may be of any usual or suitablecharacter; or which may be of the special character described andclaimed in my co-pending application Serial No. 96,062, filed May 8,1916.

In connection with this table, and having its receiving end inconvenient relation to the delivery end of the cutting table, I providea moving carrier or conveyer, which preferably consists of two parallelbelts 3 in the form of relatively small endless cords or cables. Thesecables pass around the carrier wheels 4 on the shafts One of theseshafts is driven by any suitable means. In the drawing I have shown thisshaft as provided with a friction driving wheel 6 rotated by frictionalengagement with the friction pinion 7 on the armature shaft of theelectric motor 8.

The plates to be sorted are placed separately and successively by theoperator onthe receiving end of this carrier or conveyor, which is welllighted from the under side,

either by natural or artificial light. As the plates move along on thiscarrier, the operator can readily inspect each of them by lookingthrough and across them, and can thus at once detect any defectiveplates, or can otherwise assort them according to quality or condition.

This method is greatly superior to the usual method, which requires theoperator to take each plate or sheet by the hands and hold it to thelight for inspection. By my 7 improved method a single operator canhandle a much larger amount of product than has heretofore been possibleand can assort it much more efliciently.

I do not limit myself to the-use of the particular conveyer or carrierwhich I have herein shown and described, since any other suitable devicemay be employed for this purpose. Preferably, however, it is of such acharacter as to provide only a limited area. of support for the plates,so that practically the entire area of each plate will be open andunobstructed for its inspection.

I claim:

1. Apparatus of the character described,

comprising two separated movable supports supports having a free penspace between them, substantially as described.

3. Apparatus of the character described, comprising two separatedmovable supports having their inner edges separated. by a distance lessthan one dimension of the glass plates or sheets which are to besupported,

. being thereby adapted to support said plates or sheets by theiredge'portlons only, said supports having a free open space betweenand'below them, and said space being later ally open for the admissionof light, substantially as described. 4 I k 4. The combination with aglass cutting table, of glass inspecting and assorting means, comprisingtwo horizontally sepabetween said conveyers, substantially as de- 1rated relatively narrow movable conveyers scribed.

having their receiving portions adjacent to In testimonywhereof, Ihavehereunto set the delivery portion of said table, the dismy hand.

tance between said conveyers being less than the dimension of the glassplates or sheets JOHN WATERLOO' to be inspected, and being therebyadapted Witnesses: to support said plzr'es or sheets by their GEO. B.BLEMING,

edge portions only, tnere being a free space H. M. CORWIN.

